For every Olympic volleyball or beach volleyball player, there was a first volley.
A first serve, a first pass, a first session filled with equal parts excitement and uncertainty. Long before athletes reach the world’s biggest stage, they face the same questions as anyone trying something new: Can I do this?
That is why this year’s Olympic Day theme, Let’s Move, resonates so strongly across the Global Volleyball Movement. Its message – You Can Do This – reminds people that they do not need to be perfect to begin. Feeling uncertain is part of every journey. What matters is taking that first step.
As International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry has put it: “Every athlete has been there, with those creeping questions of self-doubt: am I ready, can I do this? But when our bodies start to move, our mindset does too. Confidence builds with each step, you start to believe in yourself, and together, we lift each other up. This is the power of sport – it’s not just about what we can do physically, but what we believe we can do, together.”
Volleyball brings that message to life every day. Across schools, parks, beaches, mountains, clubs and communities, millions are discovering a sport built on teamwork, trust and connection – where success is shared, everyone has a role, and every rally begins with somebody willing to take that first contact. While not everyone will become an Olympian, we all can gain from the physical, mental and emotional benefits that Volleyball provides.
It is also the thinking behind the FIVB Volleyball Foundation, which recently marked its second anniversary. What began in May 2024 as a commitment to using volleyball for social impact has grown into a global network of programmes. In 2025 alone, the Foundation approved four projects, reached 13,891 participants across multiple continents and allocated CHF 220,867 to partners delivering work on the ground – with women and girls accounting for 36% of participants. The momentum has carried into 2026, with five new projects approved in May spanning Africa, Asia, Oceania and Southwest Asia and North Africa, each tailored to local communities but united by one belief: that volleyball can drive inclusion, development and lasting change.
This same ambition shapes the FIVB Strategic Vision 2032 – to make volleyball more accessible, affordable, and understandable for people everywhere. The goal is not simply to grow the game, but to ensure more people can experience everything it offers.
The Olympic Games represent the pinnacle of our sport – a stage the world will turn to again at Los Angeles 2028. But Olympic Day reminds us that a lot of volleyball’s strength reaches far beyond arenas. It lies in the millions who play, coach, officiate, volunteer and support the game every day – the child picking up a ball for the first time, the friends gathering for a match after school, the coach inspiring the next generation.
These moments may never unfold under the Olympic spotlight, but they carry the same values that define both volleyball and the Olympic Movement: friendship, respect and excellence.
So on Olympic Day, and every day, the Global Volleyball Movement celebrates them all.
